Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
G. W. TUNGATE
is one of the representative farmers of San Gabriel Valley. He is the owner of a
fine property in the heart of the valley, two miles and a half north of El
Monte, where he established his residence in 1875. Mr. Tungate dates his birth
in Osage County, Missouri, January 27, 1832. There he was reared to a farm life
and educated in the country schools. Reaching the age of twenty‑one years, he
became anxious to encounter life in his own behalf. He left the old home,
visited an elder brother, H. B. Tungate (now deceased), who lived in Texas, and
together they came to California, via the Southern route. (This was in the
pioneer days of California's history, and Mr. Tungate has ever since been
identified with the State.) Placer mining being the principal business in the
State at that time, Mr. Tungate devoted nearly ten years to that occupation,
principally in Mariposa County and also in Kern County. Though working in no
mine for many years, he has been more or less interested in mining until within
a few years of the present time. In 1858 he visited the old home, returning in
1859. His first visit to Los Angeles was for the purpose of purchasing
supplies, in 1862, while he was operating in Kern County. From August, 1868, to
November, 1870, Mr. Tungate owned fifty acres adjoining his present home, which
is now owned by William Shoddy. Later, while living at Bakersfield, he served
two years as under sheriff. In 1875 Mr. Tungate established his present
residence. His farm contains 100 acres of the choicest of alluvial lands; his
cottage home is a convenient, well-ordered country residence, and all the
surroundings indicate the property to be the home of a prosperous, contented
agriculturist. In 1863 Mr. Tungate wedded Miss Rachel M. Malone, who settled in
El Monte in 1859. Mrs. Tungate has resided in this State since she was ten years
of age. She is the mother of ten children, all of whom reside with their
parents, except the two eldest, Mrs. Eliza Ann Gage, of Santa Ana, and her elder
sister, Martha M., who is dead. The names of the other children are: John M.,
Mary M., George W., Laura Belle, David W., Mark Twain, Charles Grover and Mabel.
The first-born, Mrs. Martha M. Gage, died not long after her marriage, her
husband being a brother to the husband of Eliza Ann. Mr. Tungate is never
uninterested in public good, and is fully up to all the requirements of a good
citizen. From his first vote he has been identified with the Democratic party.
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California � Chicago, The Lewis
Publishing Company, 1889 Page 658
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler